


Colors

by Musically_Yours17



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Children, Coronation, F/M, Falling In Love, Family Feels, Firelady Katara, Firelord Zuko (Avatar), Life as told in colors, The end is... emotional, Timelines, Wedding, Zutara Week, Zutara Week 2020, but it's still a fluffy story I promise, healing firenation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:07:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25624108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Musically_Yours17/pseuds/Musically_Yours17
Summary: Zuko and Katara's life, as told by a series of colors.**Character death warning at the end, but a whole lot of life happens before that**
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 57
Collections: Zutara Week 2020





	Colors

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Zutara week again! This is the second and last work I will be posting for the week- thanks for reading!

When Zuko is coronated, everyone is wearing deep red. It is the moment the entire nation has waited for since the downfall of the disgraced Phoenix King, Ozai. The people rejoice as the newly un-banished, redeemed crown prince places the delicate fire ornament into his hair. His people hail him as a hero, but he knows who the real heroes are. His friends- the avatar standing next to him, welcoming in a new era of peace at the hands of the firelord. The earthbender. The warriors… the waterbender that saved his life. If it weren’t for her, there would not have been a coronation day for him. His people would have burned at the mercy of the maddened Azula. 

Zuko looks out into the faces of his new nation. Gold meets blue in the crowd. The waterbending woman, clothed in scarlet and honey, offers him a small, half-cocked smile, as if saying congrats, idiot. Don’t screw this up.   
And he won’t. He couldn’t. Not with his friends at his side. Together, he knows they can fix the world.

When Zuko first decides that he is in love, he is wearing black. The blue spirit and the painted lady ravage the streets, watching out for his people- their people- as vigilantes in the night. Of course, his heart decided much before that night, that he could only ever belong to her. The waterbender is his partner in everything that he does- in the streets, glowing in moonlight in which she thrives, and in the council chamber, drenched in his own fiery sun. Red and Blue. Yin and Yang. Push and Pull. Zuko and Katara. Something within him seems to know it would always end this way.

He holds her behind palace doors, and longs for the day his people will openly accept a waterbending firelady. A part of him says that he doesn’t care. That he loves her far too much to think of matters as trivial as the misgivings of a few countrymen, and Sokka, for that matter. But another tells him that he cares deeply about the opinions of his people. He has to be a just ruler. To right the wrongs of the past hundred years. He can wait.

When Katara is coronated, they are both wearing blue. His people think it odd to see the firelord in such a color, but he does it for her- for them. For their nations. For the sake of peace. They are a united front, setting forth to rule and rebuild their broken nations- as a team.

She told him at the beginning that she would not forsake her own culture to help him rule his. Sokka may have received the title of chief of the southern watertribe, but Katara would not abandon her people because of her new position. So Zuko embraced the watertribe, just as he had done the waterbender. They were no longer his people; no longer her people. They were their people. They would rule them fairly and mercifully, side by side.

When they are married, both Zuko and Katara are draped in white. Their clothing is devoid of the colors that kept their two nations apart for more than 100 years. The evening colors hit the cloth in an explosion of color, as the night meets the day. Zuko vows to never let something as trivial as blood keep them apart again. Katara promises her heart to both him and their people.

They both promise forever.

All of their friends attend the ceremony, much to the newlyweds’s delight. Toph refuses to wear shoes to the most important wedding of the century. No one is surprised in the slightest- Katara is just proud that the girl has cleaned up for the festivities. Zuko makes the mistake of supplying cactus juice for his new brother-in-law, and Suki is reduced to a babysitter for much of the evening, until Uncle Iroh, who has sailed in from the successful Jasmine Dragon of Ba Sing Se, offers the inebriated man a game of Pai Sho, and a respite from the crowded celebration. Suki nearly cries of joy. Aang congratulates his friends, overjoyed at the great love the union will bring to the slowly recovering nation. He relates later that he had never seen his friends happier then in those moments right after they were wed.

When the country discovers there is to be an heir, they wrap themselves in life-giving red- a perfect symbol of the continuation of the royal bloodline. Aang has found a new happiest-moment for his two friends, who are overjoyed at the prospect of bringing a life into the world. For the months after the announcement, worry lines etch themselves into the firelord’s head, as he wonders what kind of father he can be, having never had a real father himself. Only the firelady was said to be able to smooth these lines with her sweet speech, as she assured him that his experiences have only made him stronger- will only make him a better father to the prince or princess that she will bear in a few short months.

The people await the heir’s arrival, and a new energy flows through the healing nation. Businesses are booming, families are growing, and friends talk excitedly in the streets. There is something there that wasn’t before, and no one is quite sure what it is. 

When Izumi is born, she is wrapped in the deepest purple the palace can find. She is the perfect blend of both Zuko and Katara- the greatest blessing of Tui and La- the embodiment of hope. The hope that her people have waited their entire lives for. Izumi is named the pride and joy of the firenation, and the people coo over her as they would their own children. When the small family passes through the streets of Caldera, there are exclamations heard all throughout the province. With Izumi, there is a promise of a future for the firenation.

Her parents dote on her from the second she announces herself into the world with a small whimper. There is no sharp cry, no wailing; so much so that it worries the midwife. But hours later, it is determined that she is indeed a very healthy baby girl- a princess in the eyes of her people, and her parents. There is no thought of past wars- no thought of bending or fighting or nations to rule- there is only Izumi- the sweet, raven-haired girl with her mother’s sun-kissed skin, and father’s bright golden eyes. And her parents couldn’t be prouder.

When Izumi displays her bending after an angry outburst over apple-pears at dinner, she is clothed in fiery red. The people rejoice. The heir is a firebender, like her father, and his father before him. Katara gets word that Hakoda owes Iroh a large sum of money. Zuko is secretly very proud that his firstborn takes after his bending, but would never tell his wife that, for the fear that she would swiftly end his life. It wasn’t that he was afraid of her- just very much aware of the immense power that she contained- his daughter inherited that same capacity, but is slightly less menacing. She still struggles to form the word ‘Appa’, and instead insults both Aang and himself by calling his great bison ‘Papa’.

Izumi learns from her father and great uncle to control the raging fire within her- to let it out with controlled passion rather than quick-burning anger. She masters the element quickly with the help of the avatar. The boy- now a man- visits the firenation often, even just to see the young girl and his two best friends. Her father tells her that experience is the best teacher of all. But he won’t tell about all the experiences he’s had- like how he got the rose-colored scar on his face. He tells her that is a story for when she is older. Dad has lots of stories for when Izumi is ‘older’.

When Kai is born, he is wrapped in soft lavender. The subtle colors his parents prefer to put him in are no testament to his character; the boy is much more volatile than his sister. He screamed his way into the world, and his parents soon found out that he had no intention of stopping. The second born child to the firelord was deemed their ‘lilac prince’- and as with his older sister’s birth, he brought with him into the world a gift for his people- joy. While Izumi was blessed with the weight of the world, Kai was blessed with being second-born. There were less rules, less work, less preparation, and less expectations.

Katara and Zuko decide that Kai will be their last baby; for as much fun as it is to raise their sweet children, both agree that even one more would be a great source of chaos in the palace, if not, the entire nation. Izumi loves her brother. More than Katara and Zuko would like, truly, for as soon as the watchful parents turned their backs, the young girl attempted to pick up the infant, too large for her short, stubby, arms to carry. There had been multiple close calls. Katara has a hard time scolding the girl for her carelessness, or lack thereof, as she distinctly remembers being told stories of Sokka doing the same thing to her as she lay in Kya’s careful hands as a squirming child. Zuko rejoices in this, as it means that the children will not be like Azula and him. They will love each other. After all, they had a good example.

When Kai lifts the tiny turtle-ducks out of the pond after a day of playing with his mother, he is wrapped in cerulean to match his mother’s and sister’s eyes. The watertribe celebrations last three days, and the firelord and his family take a trip to the northern watertribe to mark the occasion. That ends up being a great mistake  
.  
Sokka is relentless. It is only Suki who is able to stop him from teasing the firelord, of all people, for siring a waterbending child- but it is all in good fun. He knows Zuko loves his waterbending prince just as much as his fiery princess; just as he would love any child of his and Katara’s. And he does. Zuko loves his family more than anything, and luckily, it seems that his people do as well. 

The adults look on as the children play with the penguin seals- Izumi and Yue, Sokka and Suki’s youngest, chase after Kai, and he runs on chubby toddler legs, screaming the whole time. Several members of the village emerge from their homes, thinking that someone is trying to harm the children, only to find that the lilac prince is only having fun with his cousins. Katara lets her head drop onto her husband’s blue-covered shoulder at the sight of the young ones playing happily. If only the moment could last forever…

When Kai leaves home for the first time, he is wearing the deep blue of his people in the southern water tribe. It is time for him to teach water bending to the children of the tribe, just as his mother did in the years before he and his sister were born. It is a tearful goodbye for the family- he is the first one of the children to leave the nest. Although neither would admit to it in the years following, both Katara and Zuko found themselves crying at the notion of their once-so-small prince leaving to begin his own journey. His sister was only wistful; her brother was born with the luxury to decide his fate. Hers was decided for her at birth. Izumi knows she will never leave. She has a kingdom to run. They need her.

When their firelord passes away peacefully in his sleep, the country is wrapped in deep black. Kai comes home, and Izumi is told to wear deep red, to show that the fire-family is still strong. But she does not. Because she is not.

Everything Izumi knew about firebending- about being a good firelord- she learned from her father. She is not ready. She is not ready to rule. She cannot begin without her father behind her. She was told he would be there. He lied to her. 

When she closes her eyes, she can still feel his rough hand on her shoulder, as if urging her forward. 

'You can do it, my daughter. Take care of them for me. I love you.'

The light is drained from the firenation- as if the sun has gone out. Work slows. The people are quiet and careful around the elderly firelady. She is silent, but composed. She lifts her head high, knowing that age is the one wound she cannot heal, and one that she would not want to heal, despite the immense pain in her heart. Izumi is not ready to bear the burden of a mourning nation, so Katara takes on the task instead. She consoles her people and her family, but does not allow herself the same luxury. The darkness in her heart only seems to grow with time. She finds small joy in helping Izumi prepare for her own journey ahead- even with her daughter’s great doubts, she knows Izumi will be a great firelord. Just as her father was.

When Izumi is crowned the first female firelord, she is wearing red, like her father once did, and his father before him. Her people, however, are a different story. In the sea of red, there are other colors speckled here and there; but they are just as unified as before- and perhaps even more joyous than during her father’s coronation. When the crown is placed on her head, she surveys her new people- they look at her with eyes hopeful for the future. When the coronation is over, the people take to the streets for the first time since the passing of the beloved firelord- dancing and singing and drinking. The celebrations last three weeks.

Her mother does not make it past the second.

When Katara follows Zuko into the unknown, the nation, and its crown family, are sheathed in black out of respect for the best firelady the nation has ever seen. This time, Izumi is not lost. Her mother prepared her for this moment with her own strength; her own tenacity. She is not alone, either. Kai remains by her side for the following months, and the once-children find themselves in the same home once more, brought back together by the second joining of their parents.

Katara is clothed in pure light when she meets her husband once more. He is waiting for her. He will always wait for her.

They embrace tightly, but there are no tears this time. Not like the goodbye. They walk hand-in-hand towards the future, knowing that their children will be just fine. They prepared them well. They prepared their people well.

When the nation has healed, the people are clothed in green, blue, red, and orange. And no one bats an eye.


End file.
